Trinity researchers have created a crowd simulation system that shows how social distancing measures may be implemented on campus.
V-SENSE Research Group, based in Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics, has developed a crowd simulation system. This work has been completed as part of an EU H2020 creative technologies project called Smart Assets for re-Use in Creative Environments (SAUCE).
In the simulated scene, stationary crowd members stand around in groups. These groups represent citizens who are violating Covid-19 restrictions. Autonomous models use AI to plan paths to their destinations, avoiding the virtual groups of people with a “social distance” parameter.
To create the scene, a walkable navigation region, where normal traffic flow of students is, was outlined on the Trinity campus. Then the base scene was added (groups of people loitering), and paths were generated for models to walk along. A first-person walk-through is used to show how a student can reach the library whilst avoiding crowds.
Simulation programs can be used to promote awareness of the safety measures which can be used to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and help to plan social distancing for when college begins to return to its normal bustling environment.
